Food is essential. We all get it. And, for many of us, it may even be plentiful. So why try to grow my own?

There are a lot of reasons. Because the centralized system that makes food available 365 days a year - specifically fresh produce - is highly sensitive to disruptions and price increases. Weather-related issues such as droughts, storms, floods, and forest fires, can disrupt the supply of many of the foods we love.  Prices seem to go up every time we shop.  And we want to eat fresh, because we know it's good for us, but how good is the lettuce picked a month ago, versus picking it from your garden and eating it that day? And how do you know it is truly organic?

We believe growing your own food should be a part of life. But most of us don't really want to be farmers - we have a day job. Automation is key to taking what can be a time-consuming, labor-intensive, trial-and-error process and making it so much easier. Right in your own home. Making you less dependent on a fragile system. Giving you some control over the most basic and most important thing in life - the food you eat.  That's why.  And we've done everything we can to make you successful. Fully automated growing, without the toil that usually comes with farming. Hyperlocal. Hyperfresh. Hyperhealthy. Hypereasy. 

Aeroponics is a plant cultivation method that uses a microfine mist to saturate plant roots with a water-based nutrient solution, then allows the roots time to absorb the water and nutrients before spraying again, in a continuous cycle. The size of the droplets is important for maximum uptake.

Since the roots are suspended in air, they absorb a great deal more oxygen than if planted in soil. This greater access to nutrients and oxygen produces extremely fast growth and bigger plants with more fruit, often allowing 2-3 extra crops per year.

Aeroponics is proven to reduce the use of nutrient solution by 30% compared to conventional hydroponic methods that use a liquid instead of a mist.

Aeroponics is used in the professional exotic plant cultivation business due to its high success rate. NASA did extensive research on aeroponics for future colonies on the moon and Mars due to its extreme efficiency with water and nutrients and its superior performance over hydroponics, especially its superior performance with root crops like potatoes, carrots, and beets.

Decide what you want to grow. If you need help figuring this out, call us! We'd love to walk you through this process. Then place your order on our website.

Once you receive your tower(s), set it up in a spot that is out of the weather. It has electronics and it is not weatherproof. In your spare bedroom, garage, basement, sunroom, or greenhouse is best. Fill the reservoir with filtered water and test the system. Add nutrient solution (included). Add some grow foam (included) into each grow cup, and put your seeds in. Set the program using the touchscreen panel.  Then let the Grow Tower do the work. 

Not necessarily, but the towers have electronics and electrical components, and any exposure to humidity for extended periods will compromise the life of your Grow Tower. It is strongly recommended that you set up the Grow Tower indoors. A major advantage to any system like ours is that it can provide a year-round supply of fruits and vegetables, but that assumes the temperature is appropriate 12 months out of the year for the plants you want to grow. Growing indoors is the only way to ensure the best environment for your plants, all year long.

• 2" Grow Cups (enough to fill every grow opening)

• A sheet of Oasis Horticubes (162 per sheet) - spongy media for holding seeds in cups

• A starter pack of MasterBlend Combo Kit nutrients (good for 3-6 months)

• An Electrical Conductivity (EC) meter to test for correct nutrient solution levels

• A pH meter

• Gardening snips for trimming plants

• A filter wrench for removing the main filter housing for cleaning (stainless steel filter lasts forever)

• A patch kit for repairing the root chamber fabric, and a tool kit.

• And a printout of the recommended supplies with QR codes to take you directly to the retailer for each one.

All you need now are seeds.

Not that we have discovered.  Aeroponics provides very unique advantages that make it the most universally applicable method for soilless growing. 
But, full disclosure: we have obviously not grown every known plant species using aeroponics. So our answer has to be a qualified "no".  A few edible things like mushrooms require a completely different approach and will not grow in the tower. But any plant that is traditionally grown in soil can be grown in the tower, as long as it fits.

UPDATE 5/23:    We now have a Microgreens Adapter Deck that is a drop-in replacement for our standard Grow Deck Lids. Replace 1 or all 4 lids on a standard grow deck to convert your tower for incredibly healthy Microgreens.

Maybe this will help.  Our original design goal was to create something that would work on Mars.  It had to be the most energy and water efficient system we could devise. It had to be able to grow the widest variety of plants. And because potatoes are such an important basic food, we had to be able to grow potatoes. So these underlying design goals have driven us from the beginning.

The product you now have access to was built for space - "Mars Tough", you might say. But we didn't reinvent the wheel, we researched all of the work that had already been done - for years - by NASA.  And this is how they did it.  The Grow Tower is based on proven research. It is a high quality, rugged tool.  It is not a play toy or a decorative piece.  It has a pump and lights that are expected to last at least 10 years.   It is modular, so it can be reconfigured easily.  It is the Swiss Army Knife of growing systems. And on a per-plant basis, it is the lowest cost system on the market, both in terms of the initial cost, and the ongoing operating expense. This is because the aeroponics method delivers 20% larger plants, 30-50% faster, and is 30% more efficient with nutrients. These factors combine to create a 50-100% increase in yield compared to similar consumer-oriented products that rely on hydroponics.

Up to 32 plants per grow deck. We have towers with a Single, Double, and Triple grow decks. But certain plants require a lot of space, like broccoli. So your mileage may vary. You can fit 32 heads of lettuce/leafy greens, carrots, onions, and parsley on a deck. You cannot fit 32 zucchini plants on a single deck.

With our High Capacity Deck Lids, you can increase your capacity from 32 plants to 108 plants per deck, for growing starter plants that will be transplanted outside or sold, for growing root crops like carrots that can be tightly spaced, or for growing edible flowers. A Triple Deck tower configured with our High Capacity Starter Decks can produce 324 starter plants per month.

We get it. You can buy a lot of lettuce for the cost of one tower.

What you are really buying is independence from a fragile food system, security from rising prices, resilience during weather catastrophes, and the knowledge that you are providing yourself and your family with the maximum nutritional benefits of a healthy lifestyle that is based on fresh food, harvested at peak flavor and potency.

For the busy urban mom, small business grower, restauranteur or homesteader, you are buying an efficient tool that lets you be uber-productive. A force multiplier. Let the automated Grow Tower take care of the plants. You can take care of business, your kids, the rest of your homestead operations, or your full-time job.

Plants need light, water, and nutrients to grow. They need a lot of some nutrients, called "macronutrients" and tiny amounts of other nutrients, called "micronutrients". Plants normally have to work hard to spread their roots in search of these nutrients and water when grown in soil. But if you deliver all of this straight to the roots, in the form of a liquid food, the plants will grow extremely well. In fact, since the roots are not working so hard, that energy is redirected to growing leaves and producing more fruit, and the plants grow faster and bigger. We have not devised some "artificial" gimmick to trick the plants into growing in some unnatural way, we have used the plant's natural physiology and design and figured out how to optimize everything for the plant's maximum benefit and health. 

The Grow Towers require electricity.  If you lose power for more than 4 hours, you can lose the entire crop.  That's why every tower comes equipped with a manual foot pump, that allows you to keep your plants alive until power is restored.  We suggest you treat this like your freezer or refrigerator that you depend upon for your fresh food.  A generator, solar panels, or some other form of backup electrical power generation would be wise if you regularly experience power outages for extended periods.

Absolutely. The towers give you a lot of growing capabilities in a small space. Add these to your current growing operations, or start a small produce business. You can offer live produce picked to order. Super fresh, super nutritious, super local.  Create a local market to support your community. Help reduce the carbon associated with trucking produce from thousands of miles away. Give customers a highly reliable, year-round source for fruits and vegetables. You can even rent out growing "allotments" for people or restaurants who want to utilize your towers to grow specific varieties. 

Absolutely.  The towers can give you onsite access to the freshest, most flavorful greens for salads, herbs and other ingredients. What a great way to make your restaurant stand out from the crowd. Grow your own signature produce varieties like wasabi arugula. And place the towers where your customers can see you harvest their food right before their eyes!